DESCRIPTION: The PI reports that the disruption of cellular signal transduction via protein kinase (PK) malfunction has been related to the onset of several disease states, including: rheumatoid arthritis, systemic lupus erythematosis, diabetes mellitus, and Alzheimer's disease. He notes that while PK inhibition is a logical target for chemotherapeutic intervention, the structural homology among the many PK isozymes has impeded the development of specific and hence therapeutically useful inhibitors. It is indicated that some specificity has been achieved in the area of indolocarbazoles and hence the archetypal naturally occurring congeners staurosporine (1) and K252a (2) have been the focus of considerable research. The PI states that this proposal describes: (A) preliminary studies in which a concise synthesis of 2 has been achieved (eleven synthetic operations, longest linear sequence of seven steps); and (B) the application of this chemistry to the synthesis of 1 and analogs of 2 (i.e., 3). It is reported that the latter analogs are targeted for use as probes in a Chinese Hamster Ovary Cell assay developed at Yale and the capping agent in a combinatorial peptide library that can be utilized to screen a wide range of analogs for PK isozyme specificity. It is noted that finally, efforts toward K252a have resulted in the development of novel carbenoid reactions for which further research is proposed.